A Long Way from Home

Setting

Shores of Lake Huron, Ontario


Characters

Molly the Segull

Tariq the Fish

Fred the Zebra Mussel


Script

Narrator: “Although the sun was shining and all seemed content on the shores of Lake Huron that warm July afternoon, Molly the Seagul and Tariq the Fish were not happy.”

Molly: “You know, it’s those darn Zebra mussels comin’ in here and taking over the place! They’re everywhere!”

Tariq: “Tell me about it, I can go anywhere without running...er...swimming into ‘em!,and they eat all the phytoplankton too!”

Molly: “It’s their fault, you know, that our watery homes are full of toxins’, with so many of them taking over, it’s waste city!..”

Tariq: “I know! Don’t they know to keep their toxins to themselves??!”

Molly: “You know some my sister’s seagull pups have been feeling really sick from the toxins, and acting funny too...blast those zebra mussels!!!!

Narrator: Fred, the Zebra mussel overhears their conversation and is quite offended.

Fred: “Hey! I can hear you talkin’ about me and my people...my mussels!”

Molly: “Ohh..uhhh..we weren’t talkin’ about zebra mussels, Fred, we were talkin’ about our friend...uhh... Frida Brussels”

Fred: “Oh nonsense...I know you were talkin’ about me and my folk. We’ve felt unwelcomed by you creatures ever since we arrived! But there’s a lot you don’t know about us!”

Tariq: “Oh, ya? Like what?”

Fred: “Well, we never wanted to come to the Great Lakes in the first place. We were taken out against our will. We’re originally from the Caspian Sea. I miss my old home and my family members and friends who were left behind.”

Molly: “So the humans must have brought you over! That’s horrible. To be taken away from your family and friends against your will? Tariq, how could we have been so insensitive?”

Tariq: “We didn’t know any better, Molly. But I guess now we do. It’s not the Zebra Mussels’ fault, it’s the humans’ fault!”

Fred: “What isn’t?”

Narrator: And they all laughed and watch the sun set over the lake together, as friends.




Sources

Great Lakes Information Centre (2011). Zebra Mussels in the Great Lakes Region. Retrieved at: http://www.great-lakes.net/envt/flora-fauna/invasive/zebra.html#overview